The teaser “announcement” trailer for Michael Bay’s Transformers movie is now up and available here. Nothing stunning, it’s purely a teaser. It reminds me of Independence Day a little. I have little doubt that this is going to be a mediocre film with some stunning special effects and big explosions. And big robots. Could be fun. Hopefully better than Armageddon.

However, coming in August is Zoom, the trailer for which is here. A story about teenage superheroes that’s reminiscent of “Misfits of Science” (and which also happened to star Courtney Cox) but this has Tim Allen in it and the trailer made me laugh so I’ll probably go see it. Or wait till it comes out on video. Which reminds me, did anyone ever see Sky High? Is it any good?

Back at the beginning of March I mentioned a Broadway musical called Avenue Q (which can only be described as an adult version of Sesame Street) after one of the songs from the show, titled “The Internet Is For Porn”, was used on a very funny World of Warcraft machinima video.

Well, Avenue Q is now playing in London at the Noel Coward Theatre on St. Martin’s Lane. It officially opens tonight, although it’s been playing in preview since the beginning of the month.

Superhero geekout ahoy!

The teaser trailer next years big summer blockbuster, Spiderman 3, is out in glorious Quicktime. Right click to download the large (24.5Mb) version here.

It does exactly what a teaser should do - show enough to get you excited but not enough to have any idea what’s going on. What can we determine though? Well, looks like Venom is making an appearance (or at least the black suit incarnation of Venom which is way cool) and Clayface is in there and what’s going on with Harry Osborn? Does he actually become Hobgoblin in this? Is that him on the Goblin Glider? Woot! I’m so excited I might spill my coffee.

Hopefully I’ll be let out to see Superman Returns in a couple of weeks (and London based bloggers interested in going?) and see this teaser on the big screen.

While we’re also at it, here’s a link to a behind the scenes pic of an autobot from Michael “Let’s blow things up in slow mo” Bay’s upcoming Transformers pic. Might not be there for long so go have a look now.

Ambling through the station this morning, I passed a throng of lobotomy eyed graduates trying to entice me with free cans of Pepsi Max.

“Try Pepsi Max,” a bespectacled, clean shaven and slightly pudgy youth called out. “Fat free and sugar free.”

Sometimes I can’t help myself. “Fat free?” I queried. “How much fat does normal Pepsi have?”

“Well, I don’t know the exact amount”, he replied, “but it’s quite a lot because it’s got loads of sugar in it.”

“Oh,” I said. “I see. Thanks anyway.”

Nw I’m wondering if I should have told him.

I’ve been watching a lot of old films recently which brings me closer to success in my attempt to watch all the films I haven’t seen in the IMDB top 100. I haven’t been reviewing them all but seeing as it’s the end of June, I thought I’d review the list of the 24 films I hadn’t seen:

1. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
2. Vertigo (1958)
3. Paths of Glory (1957)
4. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away)(2001)
5. Untergang, Der (Downfall) (2004)
6. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
7. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
8. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
9. M (1931)
10. Modern Times (1936)
11. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
12. All About Eve (1950)
13. Double Indemnity (1944)
14. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
15. Crash (2004)
16. City Lights (1931)
17. Touch of Evil (1958)
18. Rebecca (1940)
19. On the Waterfront (1954)
20. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
21. Ran (1985)
22. The Apartment (1960)
23. Strangers on a Train (1951)
24. The Great Dictator (1940)

Only 8 down and 16 to go. To be honest, I thought I was doing better. Then again, I only joined up with a DVD by post scheme (who aren’t paying me to advertise so they will go unnamed) at the end of April so essentially that’s four a month (and they’ve also sent me crap like “King Kong” and “Doctor Who” in the meantime as well). City Lights has just been popped into the post (and I still haven’t watched the three films on the list that I own) so getting this done before the end of the year shouldn’t be a problem.

By way of a mass review, all the films on the list above that I’ve seen so far are fantastic and I recommend them all, with the exception of Double Indemnity which was okay but didn’t feel like a classic to me. Strangers on a Train was an absolute masterpiece in comparison.

I went on holiday.

(more…)

Went away

Got rained on.

Came back.

Pics soon.

Has anyone had any dealings with Landmark Education? Did you attend or do you know someone who did? Are your opinions positive/negative/undecided?

Thoughts please.

My next MMO is very likely to be Age of Conan (as in Conan the Barbarian or, if your more literate and pedantic, Conan the Cimmerian), a fantasy MMO based on Robert E. Howard’s famous character. It’s being developed by Funcom (the Norwegian team behind “Anarchy Online” which has been going for a few years now) and it promises to be an innovative new MMO.

Frankly, I’m sold on the following new PvP feature:

Drunken brawling is a hilarious, unique and very “Conanesque” PvP form where every player, regardless of their level, can fight it out in the bars and taverns of the world. Your fighting ability here depends on how much you drink, and what you drinkJ The more you drink the more pain you are able to endure, but the less chance you have of hitting! So it gives the word binge drinking a whole new meaning, and it’s quite unlike any PvP action you have seen before

(Source: FiringSquad interview with project director Jørgen Tharaldsen)

There’s going to be more about Age of Conan on these pages in the near future. And there’s likely to be drunken brawling too.

At frakking last!

Some clever sod has finally managed to mesh Pandora (the online music player that builds custom radio stations based on your preferences and then recommends other tracks you might like) and Last.FM (the online music profiler).

Up until now, the Last.FM radio player has been - what’s the word - shite! And up until now Pandora, which in my opinion is the best of the online music radio players, doesn’t update Last.FM.

But now it does, with PandoraFM.

And they’ve even put it in a mini window for all that’s worth.

(Thanks to Brinstar for highlighting this.)